The Black Rep’s Riveting Wilson ‘King Hedley II’ Packs a Powerful Punch

The Black Rep’s Riveting Wilson ‘King Hedley II’ Packs a Powerful Punch

By Lynn Venhaus

Sins of the past collide with a volatile present in the intense gut-punch that is August Wilson’s “King Hedley II,” part of his American Century Cycle now in return rotation at The Black Rep.

One of the foremost interpreters of Wilson’s work, director Ron Himes superbly creates a powder keg of family secrets, desires for fresh starts, and hopes punctured by despair.

Shaping vivid portrayals, an outstanding ensemble conveys an abundance of passion in a heartbreaking and tragic tale.

The ninth of Wilson’s 10 plays set in the 20th Century, “King Hedley II,” written in 1999, takes place in Reagan’s America 1985, when class struggles were escalating.

This was a fraught time for black men and women trapped by circumstances – few opportunities and an alarming rise in gun violence, teen pregnancies and unemployment. Wilson hammers all those points home in poetic dialogue that spills out in blistering, breathtaking monologues that offer perspective.

Ka’ramuu Kush, J. Samuel Davis and Geovonday Jones. Photo by Keshon Campbell.

Himes understands the rhythms of these individual characters so that their story arcs are distinctive – and the six intertwining connections are convincing. It is masterful, moving work from Ka’ramuu Kush as rage-filled King and Alex Jay as his conflicted wife Tonya, local legends Denise Thimes as matriarch Ruby and J. Samuel Davis as ramblin’, gamblin’ Elmore, with strong support from A.C. Smith as evangelical neighbor Stool Pigeon and Geovonday Jones as King’s pal Mister.

With daily indignities chipping away at his self-respect, King is attempting to overcome a world of hurt to rebuild his life. He just spent seven years in prison for killing a man who disfigured his face. Now, he wants to provide for his family as he hustles stolen refrigerators and dreams of opening a video store with his best friend Mister.

Trouble seems to lurk everywhere, to pull him back, and his life could blow up at any moment because of all these small fires and volatile situations fanning the flames.

Such is the action in a backyard of Pittsburgh’s Hill District, fertile ground for Wilson’s dark, complex story about the widening gulf between the haves and have-nots. Some of the characters we met in his “Seven Guitars” reappear a generation later.

Alex Jay as Tonya. Photo by Keshon Campbell.

“Seven Guitars,” presented in 1995, confronted obstacles faced by a blues musician, Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton, who lived in a boarding house in 1948.  In that one, Ruby, visiting from Alabama, is pregnant with the son she names King Hedley II. Hedley is a prominent character, although the father’s paternity is not explained. Stool Pigeon appears as musician Canewell, one of Floyd’s best buds who is now collecting newspapers and trying to maintain historical records in “King Hedley II.” His friend, Red Carter, is Mister’s father.

Wilson’s 10 plays, each exploring the African American experience by decade over the course of 100 years, have been performed by the Black Rep before. During this second go-round for the anthology, I have seen them all since “The Piano Lesson” in 2013, with “Jitney” in 2022 and “Two Trains Running” in 2020 earning outstanding production awards from the St. Louis Theater Circle.

Next season, they will complete this recent cycle with “Radio Golf,” which takes place in the 1990s and was Wilson’s final work, presented in 2005.

All powerful in their own ways, these finely acted and impeccably produced shows illuminate black heritage and specific challenges.

Denise Thimes and J. Samuel Davis. Photo by Keshon Campbell.

This production’s gritty look immerses us into the neighboring row houses’ struggles through scenic designer Timothy Jones’s shabby stoop of Stool Pigeon’s and the grimy back porch of Miss Ruby’s delapidating family home while Travis Richardson’s lighting design, Alan Phillips’ sound design and Mikhail Lynn’s props create an authentic daily atmosphere.

Kush’s King gains our sympathies as he expresses his self-doubts and displays his vulnerabilities, detailing the reasons behind his noticeable facial scar, prison sentence, and his impoverished life to date.

He’s trying to grow flowers in a neighborhood of few success stories, an apt metaphor, but an unwavering sense of community is present, even as they lament the disrespectful thug environment encroaching on their turf they try so hard to protect.

The cast excels in fleshing out their characters’ colorful personalities and backstories so that you understand their motivations and philosophies on life. Stool Pigeon and Mister present some welcome humor, which both Smith and Jones are skilled at providing.

Stool Pigeon’s frequent quoting of the Bible often gives the play a spiritual angle that reveals more as it unfolds. “God got a plan. That medicine can’t go against God. God do what he want to do. He don’t have to ask nobody nothing,” Smith matter-of-factly states.

Denise Thimes, Alex Jay, Ka’ramuu Kush. Photo by Keshon Campbell.

Wilson’s views on disadvantaged lives hit hard as their truths tumble out – exemplified by a fiery outburst from Tonya on why she doesn’t want another child, and we feel all of Jay’s anguish.

Davis, a two-time St. Louis Theater Circle acting award winner, is silky-smooth as the charming Elmore, a rascal and former suitor that reconnects with Ruby. He’s trying to soothe his soul on some of the messes of his life.

Davis’s stellar track record with Wilson’s plays continues in one of his finest portrayals, deftly maneuvering the rapid-fire exchanges of a flashy con artist always trying to score.

Thimes, known as one of the best jazz singers in town, fully embodies Ruby, trying to find peace in her golden years, and looking back at regretful missteps.

Costume designer Kristie Chiyere Osi has outfitted the working-class characters specifically, with Elmore’s slick suits and snazzy hats an interesting contrast to everyone else’s casual attire.

Geovonday Jones, Ka’ramuu Kush, J. Samuel Davis. Photo by Keshon Campbell.

The cast is riveting as the action heats up, leading to an explosive climax that left me shaken. The tension is telegraphed all through Wilson’s exceptional prose, as past violence is recounted, but it still stuns.

Nominated for both the Pulitzer Prize and the 2001 Tony Award for Best Play, “King Hedley II” is impactful in its goal, to better understand behavior when people are robbed of dignity and humanity. That message resonates with The Black Rep’s insightful staging.

The Black Rep presents “King Hedley II” from June 19 to July 14 at the Edison Theatre on the Washington University campus. An intergenerational matinee is June 26. It is 2 hours, 45 minutes, with an intermission, and contains mature language. For more information, www.theblackrep.org.

AC Smith as Stool Pigeon. Photo by Keshon Campbell.

One Of Year’s Best Ensembles Hits Hard in Timely ‘Sweat’ at Black Rep

One Of Year’s Best Ensembles Hits Hard in Timely ‘Sweat’ at Black Rep

By Lynn Venhaus
A domino chain of events have a devastating effect on a group of blue-collar steel workers in Lynn Nottage’s hard-hitting play, “Sweat,” which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2017 and retains its timeliness.

The Black Rep’s outstanding production, which kicked off its 45th season on Sept. 9 and continues through Sept. 26, features powerful performances in a lived-in atmosphere.

You know these characters, the ‘little guys’ who’ve worked the factory floor for years and thought their labor unions would protect them when the corporate owners moved operations to another country for a cheaper labor force.

Set in a local tavern where the Olstead mill workers hang out in Reading, Pennsylvania, this could have taken place in Granite City or Centralia, Ill., or near the shuttered car plants in St. Louis.

Director Ron Himes knows this and understands how today’s political and racial tensions are much the same as then, as well as immigration issues. Those are addressed in two story arcs — changing demographics and the territorial birthright felt by the longtime Caucasian residents.

Sadly, this tale is often not one of fiction in real lives — and has become familiar to anyone living anywhere in the Rust Belt, part of those Northeast and Midwestern regions where an industrial decline has been going on for decades, especially where coal and steel were economy mainstays.

The 2015 play starts and ends in 2008, but most of it takes place in flashback eight years earlier – in 2000, a pivotal time in America, after NAFTA is in place and corporations are going to Mexico. Transparency is not a word in these companies’ vocabulary, as they leave communities shattered and people broken.

The North American Free Trade Agreement was signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States in 1994 and created a trilateral trade bloc.

The action veers from longtime friends celebrating birthdays, laughing, joking and talking about their lives to escalating tension as uncertainty about their jobs increases, along with harsh outlooks on their economic futures.

This ensemble is nimble and natural, conveying the complexities of their relationships with skill and emotional depth. The cast projects how longtime friends act and what their workplace is like with ease.

Nottage’s dialogue is shrewd and perceptive about race, class and identity. She understands the frustrations of these characters, and the lens in which they view the world.

Nottage, who is the only woman to win the Pulitzer Prize twice for Drama, first for “Ruined” in 2009, frequently writes about marginalized people.

For Cynthia and Tracey, is friendship or survival stronger? The actresses Amy Loui and Velma Austin expertly convey their conflicts and mood shifts, show how friendships sour when misunderstandings and envy erupt.

Their friend Jessie drinks too much and once had dreams of traveling the world but got a job at the factory and stayed. Kelly Howe gives what could be a stereotype some nuance – and superbly displays various levels of inebriation.

The cast is anchored by Stan, the bartender who was injured on the job at the mill and reflects on multiple labor issues as he is often the voice of reason – and at least history.

He attempts to put things in perspective and tells the young bucks who are chomping at the bit that they should be outraged by the bosses, not the little guys trying to get ahead like they are.

In his Black Rep debut, Black Anthony Edwards is impressive as the guy who’s good at listening, who speaks common sense, and has made lemonade out of the lemons he was given impairing his leg and being unable to work at what he did for years.

Physically, he looks like the character Stan. Praise to the costume designer Hali Liles for her spot-on outfits depicting the wardrobes of ordinary people living in the Rust Belt.

After they strike, and Cynthia and Tracey’s sons Chris and Jason are laid off, their lives are altered forever after tensions explode in violence. The fight choreography by Paul Steger is fluid and the cast well-rehearsed to make it seem natural.

Chris wanted to make something of himself, and Brian McKinley earnestly portrays his yearning to achieve, especially after watching his dad Brucie (frequent Black Rep performer A.C. Smith) fall on hard times after being shut out at a textile plant.

The boys serve prison sentences, as reflected in the opening scene with parole officer Evan, played with authority by Don McClendon. Franklin Killian is strong as the hothead redneck Jason, now tattoed on his face and a white supremist. He perfectly embodies the once fun-loving guy now a lost soul.

The subject of the boys’ rage is represented by Oscar, a Colombian American who works as the bar’s busboy but seizes an opportunity to make more money by replacing striking workers. The regular clientele are seething about this ‘scab.’

Oscar, well-played by Gregory Almanza, pours out his heart to Stan, telling him about how ignored he is, perceived to be an immigrant when he was born in the U.S. His dad swept floors at the mill, now he wants to achieve more. He is caught in the crossfire of misplaced fury.

The scenic design by Tim Jones aptly captures this world, with detailed property work by Meg Brinkley, all expertly lit by lighting designer John D. Alexander. The jukebox works well, thanks to the terrific sound design by Kareem Deanes.

Featuring one of the year’s best ensembles, a timely tale and expert production elements, “Sweat” is not to be missed.

Velma Austin as Cynthia. Photo by Phillip Hamer.

“Sweat” will continue through Sept. 26, with Thursday show at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m.

$15 student rush tickets are available for all shows — 30 minutes before the show with a valid student I.D.

For more information: www.theblackrep.org

Season subscriptions and single tickets for “Sweat” are available at www.theblackrep.org or by calling the Box Office at 314-534-3807. Groups of 12 or more may also reserve tickets by phone. Seating will be at 50 percent capacity; for complete information on current health protocols please visit www.theblackrep.org.

The Black Rep’s 45th Anniversary Season sponsors include the Arts and Education Council, The Black Seed Initiative, Centene Charitable Trust, Missouri Arts Council, Regional Arts Commission, Rodgers-Townsend, The Shubert Foundation, the Steward Family Foundation, and Washington University in St. Louis.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS

Our top priority for reopening is the health and safety of our staff, artists and patrons. We have been working diligently to bring live theatre back. The Black Rep is part of the growing coalition of St Louis performing arts venues and producers that have agreed upon Covid-19 Vaccination/Testing and Mask Requirements for audiences, artists and staff through the end of 2021.

Everyone must be fully vaccinated or have received a negative covid test results no more than 72 hours prior to coming on campus. A Covid19 vaccination card or a negative test result must be presented upon entering the building.

Masks are required at all times while indoors on campus. Even if you are seated in pods and distanced, masks must remain in place.

Everyone will need to complete the visitorscreening.wustl.edu within 2 hours of your arrival to campus. You will receive a message indicating that you are cleared to come to campus and you will be asked to present the “cleared” message to ushers at the entrance of the building. For those without smart phones, there is a station in Mallinckrodt where you can complete the screener on an iPad. If you receive a message that you are “not cleared”, we ask that you not come to campus or leave campus if you are completing the screener on campus.

The Black Rep Opens 45th Season with Lynn Nottage’s ‘Sweat’ Sept. 10

The St. Louis Black Repertory Company opens its 45thAnniversary Season September 10 with an in-person production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Sweat” by Lynn Nottage. Addressing the complexities of race, class and friendship at a pivotal moment in America,
the powerful work will be presented in person at the Edison Theatre at Washington University and directed by Founder and Producing Director Ron Himes. Previews begin on Wednesday, September 8.

A courageous and heartbreaking story explores the lives of a tight-knit group of factory workers who spend their days drinking, sharing secrets, and laughing. When layoffs and strikes create tension within the group the trust is broken. “Playwright Nottage tensely captures the root of our current political and racial tension in society today,” said Himes. “Are we only looking out for ourselves or are we
responsible for each other?”

The cast features Velma Austin (Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Screened in Porch), A.C. Smith (King Hedley II, The Trials of Brother Jero), Amy Loui (Canfield Drive, Three Ways Home), Don McClendon (Blues for Mr. Charlie), and Brian McKinley (Home, Spell #7). Franklin Killian, Blake Anthony Edwards, Gregory Almanza, and Kelly Howe will all be making their debut at The Black Rep

The production will feature Scenic Design by Tim Jones, Lighting Design by Jonathan Alexander, Costume Design by Hali Liles, Sound Design by Kareem Deanes, and Properties Designed by Meg Brinkley.

Fight Choreography will be done by Paul Steger who is certified by the Society of American Fight Directors and holds advanced certificates from the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat & Fight Directors. Jim Anthony is the Stage Manager and Technical Fellow Tatiana Durant is the Assistant Stage Manager.

Season subscriptions and single tickets for “Sweat” are available at www.theblackrep.org or by calling the Box Office at 314-534-3807. Groups of 12 or more may also reserve tickets by phone. Seating will be at 50 percent capacity; for complete information on current health protocols please visit www.theblackrep.org.

The Black Rep’s 45th Anniversary Season sponsors include the Arts and Education Council, The Black Seed Initiative, Centene Charitable Trust, Missouri Arts Council, Regional Arts Commission, Rodgers-Townsend, The Shubert Foundation, the Steward Family Foundation, and Washington University in St. Louis